Ten years ago, there was an oil
spill that you’ve probably never heard of. The spill wasn’t as large as the
Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of
Mexico, and it didn’t occur in an environment as pristine as Prince William
Sound which was affected by the Exxon
Valdez accident in 1989. But this event had a significant impact on future oil
spill response, restoration and maritime accident prevention.

Just outside of Philadelphia on November 26, 2004, an oil tanker called
the Athos I unknowingly ripped its
hull on an 18,000 pound anchor hidden on the river bottom. This released more than 263,000
gallons of heavy oil into an industrialized stretch of the Delaware River.
That accident set into motion a coordinated federal, state and local response with
NOAA playing a significant role providing scientific support to the responding
agencies and the eventual restoration of the damaged coastline.

Every oil spill has impacts and this one, despite being a fraction of
the Deepwater Horizon release, severely
affected the region’s economy and environment. Commercial traffic on this
active shipping route was halted for more than a week, delaying over two
hundred vessels. Claims paid to affected businesses topped $162.6 million.

The nearby Salem Nuclear Power Plant was also affected. Because some
oil sank to the river bottom it had the potential of clogging the power plant’s
critical cooling water intake system. This required operators to shut down two
reactors for 11 days, at a cost of $33.1 million. Scientists at NOAA’s Office of Response and
Restoration were instrumental in estimating when the river was safe for the
power plant to restart operations.

The Athos incident also
caused serious environmental effects. Almost 12,000 birds died as a result of
the spill. Spilled oil washed up on 280 miles of shoreline, which included sensitive
marshes, beaches, and mudflats. In addition, the spill affected nearly 42,000
recreational boating and fishing trips along the river.

NOAA’s Damage Assessment,
Remediation, and Restoration Program, along with state and federal
partners, tallied up environmental and recreational impacts and, in 2010, received
$27.5 million from the National Pollution Funds Center. This money is being
used for 10
restoration projects to benefit coastal communities and natural resources affected
by the Athos oil spill. These
projects are creating habitat for fish and wildlife, providing public access
for recreation, increasing boater safety, and enhancing flood protection. To
date, five projects have been completed, restoring 131 acres out of an eventual
332 acres of habitat.

The Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today reopened to commercial and recreational fishing 1,041 square
miles of Gulf waters immediately surrounding the Deepwater Horizon
wellhead, just east of Louisiana. This is the twelfth and final
reopening in federal waters since July 22, and opens all of the areas in
Federal waters formerly closed to fishing due to the Deepwater Horizon
oil spill.

This reopening was announced after consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and under a reopening protocol agreed to by NOAA, the FDA, and the Gulf states.

“I am pleased to announce that all federal waters affected by the spill
are now open to all fishing,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under
secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA Administrator.
“I thank fishermen and the public for their patience and FDA for its
support and cooperation throughout this process while we worked
diligently to ensure the integrity of Gulf seafood.”

NOAA sampled this area between November 11 and November 14, 2010, March
12 and March 16, 2011, and March 28 and April 1, 2011, for potentially
affected finfish, including tuna, swordfish, and escolar. Read more in NOAA press release

Ed. Note: This post is part of the Spotlight
on Commerce series, which highlights members of the Department of
Commerce who are contributing to the president's vision of winning the future
through their work.

At NOAA, science underpins all that we do. One reason that I
am so proud to serve as the under secretary for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA
administrator is the track record of excellent science at our agency, our focus
on delivering essential services based on that science, and the Obama Administration’s
commitment to making policy and management decisions informed by the best
science available.

When I first met with then President-elect Obama in mid-December
2008, we discussed ways that NOAA could provide America the best climate change
science, restore her ocean’s vitality, provide the best possible weather
forecasts and disaster warnings, and help our nation transition to more
sustainable ways of living. After asking some very perceptive questions, his
comment was simply, “Let’s do it!” Now, how refreshing is that?

As NOAA administrator, my responsibilities include promoting
and enabling the science of oceans and the atmosphere; using science to provide
services to save lives and property and enable the creation of jobs; and using science
in our mission to be good stewards of oceans, coasts, the atmosphere and the
planet.

Building upon the extensive testing and protocols already in use by
federal, state and local officials for the fishing waters of the Gulf,
NOAA and FDA have developed and are using a chemical test to detect
dispersants used in the Deepwater Horizon-BP oil spill in fish,
oysters, crab and shrimp. Trace amounts of the chemicals used in
dispersants are common, and levels for safety have been previously set.

Experts
trained in a rigorous sensory analysis process have been testing Gulf
seafood for the presence of contaminants, and every seafood sample from
reopened waters has passed sensory testing for contamination with oil
and dispersant. Nonetheless, to ensure consumers have total confidence
in the safety of seafood being harvested from the Gulf, NOAA and FDA
have added this second test for dispersant when considering reopening
Gulf waters to fishing.

Using this new, second test,
in the Gulf scientists have tested 1,735 tissue samples including more
than half of those collected to reopen Gulf of Mexico federal waters.
Only a few showed trace amounts of dispersants residue (13 of the
1,735) and they were well below the safety threshold of
100 parts per million for finfish and 500 parts per million for shrimp,
crabs and oysters. As such, they do not pose a threat to human health. NOAA release

Commerce's NOAA administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco and Adm. Thad Allen joined state,
federal, and partner biologists today as they released 23 Kemp’s
ridley sea turtles back into the Gulf of Mexico near Cedar Key, Fla.,
after the turtles were successfully rescued and rehabilitated from the
effects of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill.

“I'm pleased that Admiral Allen and I were able to assist with the
release of these turtles. And we thank all of our partners in this
rescue and rehabilitation effort,” said Dr. Lubchenco. “This is a
wonderful day for all involved--but especially for the turtles.”

“This area near Cedar Key provides excellent habitat for Kemp’s ridley
sea turtles and has long been known as an important habitat area for
this species,” said Barbara Schroeder, NOAA’s national sea turtle
coordinator. “Thanks to the efforts of our rescue teams and
rehabilitation facility partners all of the turtles we released today
have an excellent chance of surviving in the wild and contributing to
the recovery of this species.” Read full NOAA release

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visited
Louisiana today to hear from local business owners and community
members who have been directly affected by the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil
spill. At an economic roundtable in Metairie, La., Locke announced
$31.3 million in coastal restoration and economic development grants
for Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.

“These
grants are another sign of this administration’s commitment to help the
Gulf Coast’s economy and environment recover in the wake of the BP oil
spill,” Locke said.

A
$30.7 million restoration grant, awarded to the Louisiana Office of
Coastal Protection and Restoration by Commerce's National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, will fund the restoration of a critical
barrier headland near Port Fourchon, La. The headland, which
experiences some of the highest shoreline retreat rates in the nation,
protects vital bay and wetland habitat and property from storm surge
and erosion. Louisiana’s coastal habitat is the state’s first line of
defense during storms, reducing the devastating effects of wind, waves,
and flooding.

In
addition, Locke announced a $600,000 effort by Commerce’s Economic
Development Administration (EDA) to fund the deployment of 21
Assessment and Evaluation teams to communities affected by the BP oil
spill in the Gulf. Read more

Today NOAA reopened 5,144 square miles of Gulf waters to commercial and
recreational finfish fishing. The reopening was announced after consultation
with FDA and under a reopening
protocol agreed to by NOAA, the FDA, and the Gulf states.

Since July 3, NOAA data have shown no oil in the area, and United States Coast
Guard observers flying over the area in the last 30 days have also not observed
any oil. Trajectory models show the area is at a low risk for future exposure to
oil and, most importantly, fish caught in the area and tested by NOAA experts
have shown no signs of contamination.

“Consumer safety is NOAA’s primary concern, which is why we developed rigorous
safety standards in conjunction with the FDA and the Gulf states to ensure that
seafood is safe in the reopened area,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under
secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “We are
confident that Gulf fish from this area is safe to eat and pleased that
recreational and commercial fisherman can fish these waters again.” Read more

The vast majority of the oil from the BP oil spill has either
evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead or
dispersed much of which is in the process of being degraded. A
significant amount of this is the direct result of the robust federal
response efforts.

A third (33 percent) of the total amount of oil released in the
Deepwater Horizon/BP spill was captured or mitigated by the Unified
Command recovery operations, including burning, skimming, chemical
dispersion and direct recovery from the wellhead, according to a federal science report released today. See NOAA release

NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson, a 208-foot survey vessel, sailed from
New Orleans today to conduct a 10-day mission in the vicinity of the BP
Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Researchers will take water samples and test
advanced methods for detecting submerged oil while gathering oceanographic data
in the area's coastal waters.

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and
Atmosphere and NOAA
Administrator, Cmdr. Shepard Smith, commanding
officer, NOAA Ship
Thomas Jefferson and Larry Mayer, professor and director, University of
New
Hampshire Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping held a news conference in
New Orleans to discuss the research mission. Administrator Lubchenco offered more information on the NOAA effort on a live CNN segment earlier in the day.

As
the nation’s leading scientific resource for oil spills, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been on the
scene of the BP spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather
and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations.

NOAA has mobilized experts from across the agency to help
contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of
Mexico’s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish and other
endangered marine life.

NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard
on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local
partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally:

NOAA is
predicting the oil spill’s trajectory and the path of the layers of oil floating
on the surface. OR&R experts are conducting aerial surveys to update
trajectory maps and visually track the movement of the
spill.

NOAA’s
National Weather Service is providing regular weather forecasts to a joint
federal command center in Louisiana to facilitate operations planning
and response efforts.

Experienced marine mammal spotters from NOAA’s
Southeast
Fisheries Science Center are participating in surveillance
flights flown by the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations to assess the
species and populations that may come in contact with the
spill.

NOAA
also is using experimental satellite data from our Satellite Analysis Branch to
survey the extent of spill-related marine pollution.

As a major partner in the federal response to this
evolving incident, NOAA will continue to provide the necessary coastal and
marine expertise required for sound, timely decision-making and help protect the
affected Gulf Coast communities and coastal marine
environment.